Reporters on the Job

Reporters on the Job

Article excerpt

* Performance Over Appearance: To report the story about a
Muslim woman challenging traditional views of the Koran,
correspondent David Montero attended a workshop for about 50 women
and their children in Jakarta, Indonesia.

His plan was to make himself as unobtrusive as possible, slip
into the back of the room, and observe. But he was noticed.

"As soon as I sat down, the woman to my right very warmly
introduced herself in English and asked where I was from," says
David. "When I said the US, she got very excited and said she'd
lived in Pittsburgh for many years.

"She'd worked delivering newspapers, and made a point of saying
why she'd enjoyed the US so much: Her boss never seemed to care that
she was Muslim and wore a hijab. 'I was his best employee, and he
never cared what I looked like - just that I did a good job.' "